Gujarat's first Mega Food Park inaugurated in Surat

खाद्य प्रसंस्करण उद्योग मंत्री हरसिमरत कौर बादल ने हिमाचल प्रदेश के ऊना जिले के ग्राम सिंघा में क्रेमिका फूड पार्क का उद्धाटन किया। 52.40 एकड़ भूमि में 107.34 करोड़ रुपए की लागत से मेगा फूड पार्क स्थापित किया गया है।

मंत्रालय ने कहा, 'खाद्य प्रसंस्करण उद्योग मंत्री हरसिमरत कौर बादल ने आज वीडियो कॉन्फ्रेंसिंग के जरीए क्रेमिका मेगा फूड पार्क प्राइवेट लिमिटेड का उद्धाटन किया। ये पार्क हिमाचल प्रदेश के ऊना जिले के ग्राम सिंघा में में स्थित है।'

यह हिमाचल प्रदेश का पहला मेगा फूड पार्क है। इसका लाभ ऊना जिले और आस-पास के जिलों कांगरा, हमीरपुर और बिलासपुर के लोगों को होगा।

क्रेमिका मेगा फूड पार्क में उपलब्ध सुविधाओं में सड़न रोकने वाली पैकेजिंग के साथ मल्टी क्रॉप पल्पिंग लाइन (24 मीट्रिक टन/घंटा), डीप फ्रीज, फ्रोजेन स्टोरेज (1000 मीट्रिक टन), ड्राई वेयरहाउस, क्यूसी लेबोरेटरी और अन्य खाद्य प्रसंस्करण सुविधाओं के साथ बहु-फसल पुलिंग लाइन शामिल है।

बादल ने कहा, 'मेगा फूड पार्क इस पार्क में 25-30 खाद्य प्रसंस्करण इकाइयों में लगभग 250 करोड़ रुपए का अतिरिक्त निवेश करेगा और सलाना लगभग 450-500 करोड़ रुपए का करोबार करेगा। यह 5000 व्यक्तियों को प्रत्यक्ष और अप्रत्यक्ष रोजगार भी प्रदान करेगा और सीपीसी और पीपीसी कैचमेंट क्षेत्रों में लगभग 25000 किसानों को फायदा पहुंचाएगा।'

Harsimrat Kaur Badal, Minister of Food Processing Industries, has inaugurated Cremica Food Park at Village Singha in Una District of Himachal Pradesh. The mega food park has been established at a cost of Rs 107.34 crore in 52.40 acres of land. 

The Ministry said, "Food Processing Industries Harsimrat Kaur Badal today inaugurated Cremica Mega Food Park Pvt Ltd via video conference. The Park is located at Village Singha in Una District of Himachal Pradesh."

This is the first mega food park in Himachal Pradesh. It will be benefitting the people of Una district and nearby districts of Kangra, Hamirpur and Bilaspur. 

The facilities available at the Cremica Mega Food Park include Multi-crop pulping line with bulk aseptic packaging (24 MT/ hour), Deep Freeze, Frozen storage (1,000 MT), Dry Warehouse, QC Laboratory and other food processing facilities. 

Badal said, "The mega food park will leverage an additional investment of about Rs 250 crores in 25-30 food processing units in the park and generate a turnover of about Rs 450-500 crore annually. It will also provide direct and indirect employment to 5,000 persons and benefit about 25,000 farmers in the CPC and PPC catchment areas."

The food processing park at Vinchur, about 60 kms from Nashik, has got its first investment worth Rs 200 crore. The two food processing plants are expected to become operational within the next one-and-a-half years.

Nashik firm Siva Sai Export and Andhra Pradesh firm Polysetty Somasundaram Agro have finalised their investments to set up units at the food processing park.

Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) has already allotted 17 acres to Siva Sai Export and 7.5 acres to Polysetty Soma at the food processing park, located adjacent to Vinchur Wine Park, near Niphad.

Polysetty Somasundaram Agro is setting up a dehydration plant for onions and other vegetables at an investment of Rs 100 crore, which will generate 1,600 direct and indirect jobs and involve close to 40,000 farmers through contract farming.

“We are setting up a plant to dehydrate onions, garlic, carrot and beetroot. The processing capacity will be around 40,000 metric tonnes per annum. We will outsource production of onions and other vegetables through contract farming with around 45,000 farmers.” Shared company in a statement.

Siva Sai Export is setting up the food processing unit at an investment of Rs 100 crore, which will provide direct and indirect employment to 3,500 people. Apart from this, it will involve around 30,000 farmers into contract farming.

“We are already exporting frozen fruits and vegetables to Russia. Our new food processing plant at Vinchur will be an export-oriented unit. The processing capacity of the plant will be 10 metric tonnes per hour,” said the sources from Siva Sai Exports.

Yoga guru Ramdev-led Patanjali group signed MoU with the Telangana government for setting up a "large" food park in the state.

TRS Lok Sabha member from Nizamabad K Kavitha along with government officials met Patanjali s top management at Haridwar, Uttarakhand, and explained them the state newly launched food processing policy.

The discussions concluded by signing an MoU between Managing Director of Patanjali Acharya Balkrishna and Managing Director of TSIIC (Telangana State Industrial Infrastructure Corp) E V Narsimha Reddy.

The agreement was signed in the presence in Ramdev, who founded the domestic FMCG major over a decade ago.

The group had earlier committed an overall investment of more than Rs 10,000 crore countrywide at the global food processing fair, 'World Food India', organised in New Delhi.

State Official said in statement “The Telangana team highlighted the bountiful availability of raw material such as turmeric, chillies, maize and soybean (in Telangana). Further, procurement opportunities for citrus fruits and other commodities were also discussed for various Patanjali products. Under the MoU, the Haridwar-headquartered FMCG group committed to set up a "large food park" in the state. The proposed park could consist of units for edible oil, fruit pulp and spices processing. The group also expressed interest in developing indigenous seed varieties and animal feed value chain in Telangana.”

Maharashtra government had allotted 230 acres in Nagpur at 75% discount to Baba Ramdev's Patanjali Ayurveda Ltd in August last year to set up a food park.

The state agency, Maharashtra Airport Development Corporation (MADC), which owned the land, had also suggested extending the plot by deforesting 20 acres of Zudapi Jungle or shrub land adjoining the plot, RTI documents show.

Vishwas Patil, Managing Director, MADC, said, "The proposed Food, Agro and Forest based industrial park in Mihan is envisaged to be developed on an area of about 230 acres. This may go up to 250 acres subject to deforestation of the land parcel under Zudapi Jungle which falls under the boundary of proposed project land."

In response to the note, the MADC board of directors headed by chief minister Devendra Fadnavis had said, "The Board noted the status."

Patil had written to the board, "In this chunk of 376 acres of land, about 30 acres of land on paper is described as Zudapi Jungle and 16 acres of land covers natural water channels. Considering the nature of the land, this area is suitable for a food park and agriculture and allied activities."

Patil further added, "It is only a suggestion and there has been no movement on it. The suggestion had only been made because the Zudapi Jungle is right next to the plot."

The Union government has accorded approval to establish a mega food park in Daloda tehsil of Madhya Pradesh's Mandsaur district.

A Public Relations department official, said, "Ministry for Food Processing Industry of the Union government has given the approval to establish mega food parks in seven states of the country, including Madhya Pradesh.

He further added that around Rs 500 crore will be invested in the food park, "This is an important achievement which will render support in achieving the aim of doubling the income of farmers."

He also informed, "The work to set up the mega food park will be carried out by Chetak Enterprises Company Limited. Several big companies like Dabur, Zandu Pharmaceuticals and Patanjali are likely to be linked to this project."

Besides the farmers of Malwa region, those from Rajasthan's districts situated adjoining the border of Madhya Pradesh will also be benefited by the project.

Besides traditional crops, various horticulture products, spices and medicinal crops are cultivated on a large scale in Mandsaur district, he said.

"Also, the floriculture is being undertaken here on a large scale. The entire region will become industrially developed and employment opportunities will be generated after the establishment of the mega food park," he added.

After the Punjab government announces tax sops for food processing sector, the state has received 55 investments proposals involving outlay of Rs 8,000 crore only for setting up food processing units.

The MoUs were signed in the presence of Union Food Processing Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal, reported PTI.

In a major decision, Punjab government has announced exempting inputs of food processing sector from taxes to make the state as food processing hub of the country.

“Punjab contributes more than 40 per cent of the central procurement of wheat, 26 per cent of the central procurement of rice, 75 per cent of total production of kinnows and oranges, and 7.5 per cent of the total milk production in the country,” shared Badal.

Further, agricultural sector plays a pivotal role in boosting India's economy with about 21per cent of GSDP being contributed by Agricultural and allied sectors against an all India figure of 14 per cent.

Badal apprised the participants that Punjab heralded the first Green Revolution in the country, and has made rapid strides in improving the quality and quantity of the food grain production.

She said that endowed with high fertility, abundant natural resources and good quality of soil, the state enjoys high yield for various agricultural produce.

She said Food processing was the focus area of investment in Punjab, and concerted efforts were being made by the government to facilitate big investments in food processing industry.

The Union Minister also said Punjab has a strong base of a pre-existing ecosystem for the Agro & Food Processing sector, which provides it an edge over other states.

She said that now Punjab is looking forward to enhance the capabilities of this vital sector through the adoption of modern technologies for food processing, and ensuring significant linkages across the value chain.

The state is keen to clear the way for conducive regulatory environment of total transparency for smooth operations, she said.

ITC, the FMCG major in the country has announced an investment of Rs 700-1400 crore in the food park coming up in Punjab.

The company is increasing its investment in the Food Park at Kapurthala, ITC FMCG Businesses President Sanjiv Puri informed Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal during an interaction with PTI.

Badal met with the corporate honchos to hard-sell the state as a favoured destination for investment, an official release said.

He told industrialists that the state was coming out with a policy offering cheapest power in the country to new investors and government was in the process of banning Inspectors from entering factory premises, it said.

Puri said that ITC had succeeded in making Kinnow juice and the product was under consumer testing and would be in the market within the current financial year.

Godrej Agrovet Managing Director Balram Yadav said that his company would evaluate setting up a green house and food park over 100 acres.

Badal said the government was ready to create the entire infrastructure for the green house at Ladhowal. "Companies and farmers taking up area in the green house would have to pay operating costs only", he said.

Molson Coors president Ravi Kaza announced that his company was upgrading a plant by investing Rs 50 crore.

Representatives of Marks and Spencer, Cannon, Walmart, Dabur and Shaktibhog Atta also held one-to-one meetings with Badal.

Dabur representative Sunil Duggal expressed interest in processing kinnows, while Walmart representatives said there was scope of opening a dozen more Walmart stores in Punjab as the company's stores in Punjab had the best sales, the release said.  

In a move aimed at giving a boost to agro-processing industry in Andhra Pradesh, Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu has laid the foundation stone for an 'ultra mega food park' in this district, reported PTI.

The 'Jain Irrigation Food Park' is being established in 758 acres. Besides processing fruit, vegetables and spices, the facility will have agri biotech and R&D centres.

Under the manufacturing set up, the "ultra mega food park" includes micro-irrigation systems, PVC and PE pipes and tissue culture.

Technology innovations constitute product and crop demonstration centre, water-harvesting demonstration unit and renewable energy hubs, according to the Government.

"Given that food habits are changing with lifestyles and demand for food is a growing concern, we believe R&D will help us understand the existing trends, understand consumption of certain products and predict the need for future. We will continue to conduct research on various agriculture practices which will help increase the yield," Naidu said.

Later, he also the laid foundation stone for a facility of Gujarat Ambuja Exports which will come up in 200 acres with an investment of Rs 240 crore.

The company is setting up a maize processing unit in Orvakallu, Kurnool district which will offer both direct and indirect employment to locals.

"These investments reflect our decentralised development strategy for the state," the Chief Minister said, adding his Government plans to set up food parks in every district.

Inaugurating a food park in Assam, Harsimrat Kaur Badal, the Union Minister for food processing said that the Assam park will leverage an investment of about Rs 250 crore and will provide employment to 6,000 people.

The food park sanctioned by the Centre at Nalbari was inaugurated by Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi along with Union Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju and Harsimrat Badal, according to an official release.

"The Mega Food Park will leverage an additional investment of about Rs 250 crore in 30-35 food processing units in the Park and generate a turnover of about Rs 450-500 crore annually," added the minister.

According to the food minister the park will also provide direct and indirect employment to 6,000 people and will benefit about 25,000-30,000 farmers.

The park has been set up with an investment of Rs 76 crore along with a dry warehouse with 10,000 tonnes capacity, cold storages of 3,000 tonnes and common effluent treatment plant, and quality control labs among others.

There is also a proposal to set up 6 primary processing centres (PPCs) at Nagaon, Badarpur, Tinsukia, Barapani, Krishnai and Kajalgaon which will provide facilities for primary processing and storage near the farms.

The Centre provides financial assistance of up to Rs 50 crore for setting up Mega Food Parks for creation of modern infrastructure facilities for food processing along the value chain from farm to consumer.